Malaria

​Currently, in order to check if someone has malaria but isn't showing any symptoms yet, a blood sample has to be drawn and analyzed. Thanks to an ongoing research project, however, it may soon be possible to detect the disease on the spot within seconds – using sniffer dogs.

Numerous biomarkers are being discovered signaling the presence of different cancers, but it’s a challenge to find a single way to track all kinds of cancer. Researchers may have a solution, discovering a protein produced by malaria parasites that is perfectly engineered to detect most cancer cells.

Scientists have designed a new molecule they say could keep us ahead of the game when it come to drug-resistant malaria parasites, taking the best parts of a human protein to form a potent weapon that takes out the parasite before it gets any bright ideas.

​Diagnosing symptomatic carriers of malaria is difficult enough, needing careful examination of blood samples, but picking up asymptomatic carriers is even more challenging.​ A team set out to find a way to diagnose those asymptomatic malaria carriers and the key turned out to be in body odor.​

Caffeine may be a “catalyst” that turns us from sleepy zombies into functioning members of society, but now that may be more literal. Scientists have used caffeine to replace the metal catalysts normally used in creating polymer materials, opening the door for drug delivery via chewable gels.

If we really want to cut down on the hundreds of millions of malaria cases they cause every year, we need more effective weapons. Now, researchers have used the CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing tool to engineered mosquitoes that are highly resistant to the malaria parasite, by deleting one specific gene.

Researchers at the University of Michigan have come up with a novel way to fight back against drug-resistance in bacteria and viruses. By pitting pathogens against each other, then using drugs to wipe out the leftovers.

When it comes to fighting malaria, researchers not only need to stop the killer cold in its tracks, but they also have to ensure their solutions harm only disease-carrying mosquitos and not the rest of the environment. A new turbocharged fungus promises to do exactly that.

Chitin, which occurs in crustacean shells, has already been suggested for use in things like wound dressings, cheaper pharmaceuticals, and even proton-conducting transistors. Now, researchers have found that when combined with silver, it could also be used to kill malaria-spreading mosquitoes.​

When 18 malaria patients in the Congo failed to respond to conventional treatments, doctors knew they had to act fast – and try something different. So instead of turning to more synthetic drugs, they turned instead to nature and found a solution that delivered remarkable results.

According to WHO, 90 percent of 2015's malaria cases occurred in Africa, as did 92 percent of malaria deaths. It is here that WHO has chosen to trial the world's first malaria vaccine beginning next year, with Ghana, Kenya and Malawi to be the first recipients.

According to the WHO, malaria was the cause of almost 430,000 deaths in 2015. A new vaccine that introduces live malaria parasites into the bloodstream has just undergone clinical trials in humans, and been shown to provide long-term protection with effectiveness of up to 100 percent.